Recent Tasting Notes

Additional notes: This one worked much better this time, maybe even just because I used a teaspoon and a half rather than one teaspoon before. So spicy and such unique spices in this blend. The black tea tasted like raisins! Hits the chai craving, for sure. I haven’t sipped enough chai yet this autumn.

Another lovely sample from JusTea – thank you! It is autumn and autumn is time for chai! There are different ingredients here that aren’t found in Indian chai… but I’m fine with that as long as the base is the lovely Kenyan black that I sipped recently. And rose petals don’t hurt! I wish I knew exactly WHAT ingredients are in here, since it looks like there are more than the three listed in the description when I am looking at the blend itself. Maybe the description just mentions three of the ingredients that aren’t in a typical chai? I steeped a teaspoon and a half just after boiling for 3 1/2 minutes. The brew color is actually lighter than I expected for chai. The black tea isn’t as noticeable as I would like. I guess it’s the spices overpowering the flavor of the black tea, which is probably why some chais use CTC black bases. The flavor is very clovey! I’m not a fan of ginger and I can only tolerate it when it is in chai. It’s spicy in its own way. I don’t know if I taste any rose, but it sure looks nice. This blend certainly stands alone in my chai collection, since it’s so different!

This is me scrambling to get this review done before the justea crowd funder finishes! It’s finishing up today!!!! I was planning to do this earlier this week, but my computer got bricked!

I finally got most of my computer running.. though when writing this review, I realized I lost all my fonts. Sigh @ clean install reformats.

On to the tea – this tea is great! I enjoyed it much more than just the base. The bergamont got rid of some of the dryness in this tea.
Very much no frills in this blend: no blue cornflowers and lumps of orange peel – just good quality berg oil and tea.

Preparation

This tea reminds me of a slightly floral molasses gingerbread, which is odd as ginger is not listed in the ingredients in the description but nevertheless this is what the brewed tea and dried leaf smells like to me.

The first flavour on my tongue reminds me of Chinese five spice powder over a slightly earthy, malty flavour with a hint of citrus. The aftertaste has warm sweet note on roof of mouth and a warm buzzing on the tongue. The tea is quite sweet with fennel like sweet notes that become most apparent after the initial sip. The base is rich and deep and malty. This is a cloves dominant chai, but the coriander, fennel and licorice notes, work well to balance it. The rose and safflower notes are present as secondary notes in the flavour after the five spice note. The safflower adds a slightly fruity freshening note and the rose adds more depth to the flavour. I’m actually surprised at how much I like this as I usually dislike cloves dominated tea, A great tea for fall and the winter holidays.

sipdown. nope nope nope nope nope nope nope. I could tell this wouldn’t be a tea for me as soon as i cut into the package. but i tried. and no. the rest is going in a box for terri. and tony. ’cause this is a tea for him….not me. but if you love earl greys…IGNORE MY REVIEW! since i suspect that many a fan of the EG would like this.

I am in the middle ground of EG, there are some that I LOVE and some that I really think made a mistake somewhere. I am glad I was not the only one who thought this tea was not for me, I felt kinda bad.

You are getting spices that you’ve never heard of before in here. In the dry leaves, where the ginger attacks your olfactories like an eager-but-inept makeout partner, the aroma is peppered with the rich layers of fennel and cinnamon. This smooths way out in the cup as the latter takes over completely: “Ginger, stop embarrassing yourself.” “Yes ma’am.”

The very first sip is a call to throw away your sugar. That cinnamon joins forces with safflower and rose petals to form a band called Natural Sweetness. Unfortunately, this means that the ginger gets left behind–maybe there wasn’t enough room in the van. You can still smell it in the aroma, but as you drink up that dusky ochre liquor… Full review here: http://snooteablog.com/2013/10/01/snooty-tea-review-justea/

With JusTea’s Earl Grey, you’re immediately pummeled with pulverizing pungency. There is nothing “just tea” about this. The bergamot is BERGAMOT but even louder, sharp as cut glass. And this is only the dry leaves! Once in the cup, the aroma tames itself marvelously and the underlying black tea comes through, all smokey gold and playing with the idea that it’s really a Keemun from China. We are reminded that no matter where tea leaves may be grown, they are still the same Camellia sinesis plant. (‘Cause we are all connected in the great Circle of Life, baby.)

The bergamot just does not let you go. Ever. It latches onto your ankle and pulls you into the amber depths of the liquor. Highly insis-tea-nt; constantly badgering you with its presence. In fact, it’s honey badgering you. Because not only does it sass, “Bergamot don’t care!” but… Full review here: http://snooteablog.com/2013/10/01/snooty-tea-review-justea/

If you’re a fan of roasty Chinese blacks, then get ready for a treat. A far cry from its florid South Asian counterparts from Ceylon and Assam, Kenyan black tea takes every deep golden note of your favorite Keemuns and Yunnans–and boom. The roll of a heated drum, as it penetrates and reverberates from sip to sole to soul. The finish is so smooth that you can’t even feel it leave your tongue.

Love this tea! The leaves have a malty, mushroomy, yet fruity scent. The brew tastes super malty, along with cacao nibs and barley. There is a sweetness in there too though, and it seems to get sweeter as the tea cools down. It’s a bit astringent which I enjoy. A great morning tea!

Ok. I bought too much of this tea. I don’t like EG THAT much I guess, and I have 3 different tins to choose from. :P I’m basically sipping this each day because I’m getting close to it’s 1 year anniversary and I want to rotate my stock!

Ok! So this was the Earl Grey I was craving this morning. :P I enjoyed my cup of Mount Grey but wanted to follow up with this just to get it right. I’m finishing up the last of my sample now (114) and it is as slightly creamy/lemon custardy as I remember. YES!

The rest is getting stuffed into a little envelope for Ozli who loves EG’s, which SHOULD go at the letter price as it’s just one flattened bag. If they say it’s too thick and charge me for a package I’ll just take it back home with me. >:|

i actually yelled at the post office man the other day. HE took my envelopes, sealed them and then was going to charge me more because they didn’t fit through the slot. “thank you kindly but i didn’t ask you to seal those and i can shift things around so they will fit…please unseal them and if they won’t unseal, you’ll need to give me another envelope.” so there!

I love this Earl Grey. It’s so sweet and citrus-y and smooth. I’m just amazed by the freshness and depth of these Justea teas. The bergamot is a tad stronger than I personally prefer but there’s a richness/creaminess to it than I am really enjoying. It’s close to lemon custard as it cools! Close.

I just said that I won’t need any more EG’s now that I have TARDIS and Mount Grey, but maybe I need to take it back. I hope Justea’s crowdfunding efforts are a success because I foresee future orders!

Preparation

This tea has the type of bergamot I like in it, bright and complex, fruity citrus with notes from lemon to tangerine with spicy notes that remind me of lavender and ginger. The flavouring is bold and strong which blends well with a strong heavy bodied tea.

Using 1.5 tsp this tea brewed up to a nice red after around 3 minutes. The first flavour note was of sweet potato, followed quickly by citrus spice with lavender and light ginger notes, underlain by deep malt and cocoa. This is quite nice, bright and light tasting on top, with depth underneath and a lovely citrus spice aftertaste.

Sipdown, 144. Thanks again to JusTea for a sample of this tea. I went to make it this morning to have for breakfast and realized too late that I didn’t have any milk. As I had already brewed it, I sweetened it and had one cup sans milk to try it (pretty much same as last time) then I cooled the rest to have as a cold chai latte later today.

It’s pretty good as a cold latte, but I think I would prefer it thicker somehow. Made with sweetened condensed milk, perhaps. In any case, it’s was a nice, not-to-spicy chai to have this afternoon, and the milk smooths over any astringency from the base.

Preparation

I have been waiting to try this one in part because I’m not a huge chai person, and I wanted to have it at home (as opposed to work) where I have the ability to add milk and sugar, which is how I usually drink chai if I drink it.

Working from home today, so I am hoping to get through a number of sipdowns and such. Unfortunately, I have just realized that I just used the last of milk on cereal this morning, so no milk. Ah well.

I tried it plain first, and I was pleased that it wasn’t an overly spicy or clovey chai. I mean, it is clovey, but not crazy clovey like some chais. The spice blend seems balanced. But as I have found with the other African teas, there is a bit of astringency. I put in a little sugar to smooth that out, and it seems to have worked. I think this would be a really lovely chai if brewed in a traditional chai fashion, even if it’s not a super traditional chai. I have enough of my sample to try that when I do get some milk, so perhaps this weekend.

Thanks again to JusTea for this sample, and as a reminder their crowdfunding campaign is on now at http://www.justea.com

Preparation

Besides me being either immune to astringency or just liking it (not sure which) I liked this one simply because it was not a traditional chai and I liked it better without milk, but then I’m not a chai person either.

I have had this tea twice so far, once using 1 tsp/225ml and the second time using 1.5 tsp. I enjoyed the tea both times but I think I prefer the later.

Using 1 tsp the tea liquor was a rich copper red and
smelled sweet and spicy, with hint of berries, citrus, roasted sweet potato, cinnamon, malt.

It produced a comforting rich cup with a nice body with malt, cocoa, grain ( almost barley) and a hint of potato notes at first opening up to sweeter berries with citrus fruit, and cinnamon and a hint of chocolate with a light floral notes. The aftertaste was tangy with citrus malt and chocolate cinnamon note. The tea was smooth with little to no astringency.

With 1.5 tsp of tea the liquor smelled of roasted sweet potato, malt berry, spice and a deeper cocoa note

The malt, cocoa, grain with a little sweet potato, notes opened to citrus, with at times faintly peppery berry notes, and a hint of cinnamon that had deeper cocoa notes underneath. There were tangy citrus and deep cocoa bitter notes in the aftertaste.

It re-steeps well with the tea tasting brighter and fruitier with spice elements more prominent, and a new rosemary like element coming out.

This method had a little bit more astringency than the 1 tsp method but had a much richer flavour.

Thanks once again to JusTea for this sample. Definitely one of the nicest Kenyan teas I have tried to this date. Check them out athttp://www.justea.com/

Ok, so i’ll be honest, i had to “review” the reviews here to compare the consensus. And i would have to agree – to enjoy the full benefits of miss Kathryne Earl Grey [ nice name, story?], she is a once bitten twice shy. Best to brew with a few than lots, as our culture demands more…Kathryne is less , as it doesn’t take much for the aromatic notes to consume your cup. once brewed yes you can smell the bergamot, but also the rich earth of africa…so perhaps this tea would best to experiment with different milk bases for a distinct taste, otherwise you may think you just drank coffee….which, this is not. Kathryne is a proper Earl Grey and as much be treated delicately. you must gently woo this tea to a proper blend…if you desire to court again in your cup!

Preparation

Awwwwwhhhh, good ol Kenya Farmers! This tea is as fresh from the ground as IT GETS! believe me you will know by opening their very fashionable tea sachets – you can smell the rich earth of africa it was sown in …but don’t let it fool you…once brewed, it makes a mean cuppa! i had sugar and milk on the side ready, because it’s a strong brew! but for those who work endlessly to satisfy a 5 min experience in a cup deserves more than pennies, they deserve a well lived life. Kudos, JUSTea…keep it brewing and bless Kenya Alive!

Preparation

I’ve been meaning to do reviews of these for a while, but somewhere between school, work, and getting sick, life beat me down hard this last week or so.

Received this, with many thanks, from the folks of JusTea in conjection with their campaign going on (which you can find at at http://www.justea.com/)

This is a very bright/fresh flavored black tea. It’s like a wake up party in my mouth! It’s also quite robust, with some wondeful balance between stone-fruit sweetness, malt and and fresh woodsy flavors. There’s a slight bit of astringency, but nothing I would call distracting or even unexpected.

The second steep (5 minutes) is similar to the first, though slightly sweeter and perhaps a little softer around the edges.

This is a really solid morning tea, or something to just kick back into and recooperate with later in the day.

Preparation

This is my last sample for justea. I’m really thanking them for letting try these great Kenyan tea’s. This time around we are tasting the Earl Grey version of the Kenyan Black tea.

The dry leaf got a light bergamot scent to it. Not strong but just noticeable. So thats already a good sign for things to come, because i really don’t like overly strong flavored tea’s.

I brewed this earl grey for 3min and the color of the infusion is almost the same then the black tea base alone. For more info about the tea base check my Kenyan Black tasting note.

The robustness of the Kenyan tea is still in front when drinking this cup of tea. But u can clearly taste the fresh bergamot oil that is used to give this its classic earl grey taste. Its refreshing and its a very good thing the bergamot isn’t taking over the tea.

I’m liking this just like the african chai and the Kenyan black (thats the base for all there tea’s)! Justea u got really amazing tea’s out there, these 3 samples where by far the best samples i had i a long time.